2.8.x is the stable GIMP branch, and it doesn't include any new features.

You may be wondering about the status of the next GIMP major releases: 2.10 and 3.0.

Well, GIMP 2.10 is currently blocked by some improvements that have yet to be implemented, such as the introduction of linear workflow, reworked layer modes, and improved color management, among others.

As for GIMP 3.0, the GIMP developers say that the GTK+3 port may prove to be a bigger change than expected, and GIMP 3.0 may end up switching to GTK+4. You can read more about this on the GIMP blog.

Install GIMP 2.8.20 in Ubuntu or Linux Mint

As usual, the latest stable GIMP is available in Otto's PPA. To add the PPA and install GIMP in Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and other Ubuntu-based Linux distributions, use the following commands:

The PPA also includes updated GIMP Plugin Registry, a colection of many optional GIMP extensions, as well as the G'MIC (GREYC's Magic foor Image Computing) GIMP plugin which includes more than 450 filters. To install both of these, use the commands below:

sudo apt install gimp-plugin-registry gimp-gmic

For other Linux distributions, Windows and Mac, see the GIMP downloads page.

How to revert the changes

In case you encounter issues and you want to go back to the GIMP version available in the Ubuntu repositories, you can purge the PPA using ppa-purge.

To install ppa-purge and purge Otto's GIMP PPA, use the commands below: